Renee Zellweger to Make Broadway Debut in The Hustler

Academy Award winner Renee Zellweger will make her Broadway debut in a stage adaptation of The Hustler, according to Deadline.com. Gavin O’Connor is set to direct the new drama by Anthony Tambakis (Warrior). No additional casting, dates or theater have been set.

The show will be based on the 1959 novel The Hustler by Walter Tevis and its subsequent film whiched starred Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason and Piper Laurie. The Hustler is the story of pool hustler Edward “Fast Eddie” Felson, who tries to become the best pool player in the United States by defeating pool legend Minnesota Fats. Zellweger will presumably play Sarah, Felson’s depressed, alcoholic girlfriend.

Zellweger earned an Academy Award for Cold Mountain. Her film and TV credits include Jerry Maguire, One True Thing, Nurse Betty, Bridget Jones’s Diary, White Oleander, Down With Love, Cinderella Man and the film adaptation of Chicago.